Nearly half of the fruits and vegetables at wholesale markets in Ho Chi Minh City were tested by the authorities for chemical residues, the Food Safety Management Board in this city was quoted by Tuoi Tre newspaper.
Accordingly, the test results at the three largest wholesale markets in the city, Binh Dien, Hoc Mon, and Thu Duc, showed traces of pesticides, which are commonly referred to as pesticides, in 271 of the total 570 samples of vegetables and fruits were tested, the rate was 47.54%.
Some of these chemical residues are within the limits, but there are also many samples that are above the allowable limit, according to the report of this newspaper.
These three wholesale markets account for a large proportion of the daily food supply for city people. Of the thousands of tons of agricultural products that are transported to markets every day, the amount sampled for testing is “quite modest” and “mostly for rapid testing for screening,” a representative of the Food Safety Management Board said.
The agency also acknowledged that farmers’ use of chemicals on fruits and vegetables “is not controlled” although “there has been a positive change.”
They also pointed out the difficulties and complications in food safety control, such as insufficient human resources and the ability to inspect all agricultural products brought to the wholesale markets, but only select a few products for rapid screening-type testing.
Meanwhile, in order to have accurate results as a basis for sanction, it is necessary to carry out intensive testing, which lasts many days, so when the test results are available, the agricultural products have also been damaged, causing damage to the goods owner.
In another separate inspection of agricultural products participating in the “Safe Food Chain,” the Food Safety Management Board found that there were residues of pesticides, even chemicals not on the allowed list for food production.
These toxic chemicals were found on spinach, tomatoes, collard greens, bok choy, broccoli, spinach, cabbage, and white radish…, Tuoi Tre quoted a representative of the Food Safety Management Board as saying.
However, the proportion of products participating in the “Safe Food Chain” that was found to have chemicals was only 3.69% and chemical residues were “all within the limits.”
According to information from the City’s Food Safety Management Board, the number of food poisoning cases in the period from 2017 to 2022 has decreased to 12 cases compared to 18 cases in the period from 2014 to 2016.
Thoibao.de (Translated)
